Picked up a P. 08 recently?

[S.B.]

Hope this post is appropriate for this forum? Nazi proofed on slide with Eagle and Swastika with two more Eagles with 358 under them on lefts side of slide it has AC above 43(date manufactured?) along with P.38 in larger letters, all the rest of this I have to use a magnifying glass to see, Slide and frame have ths same four digit serial number stamped on them with a K after it. No numbers on the magazine I can see.
This is a first experience with these guns, always lbeen intrigued with them but, never owned one before. Any help diciphering these markings would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. along with this deal I aquired a Japanese Nambu with elonegated trigger guard, which I am totally not knowledgable about also?
I don't have pictures yet so please be patient with me, I'm very busy right now. I'll post them as they become available to me.
Steve

[Johnny P]

Picked up a P. 08 recently?

That is a P.38 made by Walther. The Eagle/Swastika is the firing proof. The Eagle/359 is the military acceptance stamp used at Walther. The magazine was not numbered on that year model.

[S.B.]

Yes I must of mistyped the title of my thread? Sorry to all.
Steve

[dave]

I own one, an early 41 AC, polished , nice blue. Only thing I really know is---very unpleasent to shoot, constantly get T finger pinched by trigger against frame, always wear glove!

[joem]

I own one, an early 41 AC, polished , nice blue. Only thing I really know is---very unpleasent to shoot, constantly get T finger pinched by trigger against frame, always wear glove!

I own a post war one and love to shoot it. I haven't ever been pinched by it.

[S.B.]

Another question comes to mind. My pistols serial number is 7XXXK. Did Walther number these gun up to a certain number then add a letter and start over at their starting point? ie; 10,000 then 1A as an example? 7,000 range seems awfully low for a war time 1943 to me.
Steve

[Johnny P]

As with most German small arms produced in large numbers, the weapons were serial numbered in blocks of 10,000 with a letter suffix after the serial number. Some of the K98k rifles went through the alphabet in less than a year and started over with a double suffix, as in 7XXX aa.

Some of the manufacturers started over at the beginning of a new year with a no suffix serial number, then a, then b and so on. Some just numbered straight through, and started over when they reached the end of the alphabet.